Fear
by GlasgowPotter
Summary: Not all children who are faced with tragedies end up an unsub, some choose to fight against those they could have become. Reid/OC


What is fear? Is fear the feeling that overcomes us when we're faced with decisions that will change everything? Is fear not knowing the unknown? Or is it being completely unable to control the situation we are sometimes put in? It's difficult to truly understand fear as well experience fear in different ways but I can tell you, I felt fear. It completely took over my mind at the age of five as I opened the large door to my parents room. The sight that I was faced with sent fear over my entire body and that same fear pushed me to become what I am.

I remember at the age of five being carried from the house that I had lived in from the day I was born, by a tall member of the FBI as he shielded me from the flashes. My hand clutched onto his vest thinking that if I let go, the flashed would swallow me whole and I'd never escape the stomach of the beast that's many eyes were causing the flashes surrounding us. In my other hand, I had a tight grip on the chain that held the silver locket which usually was round my mother's neck at all times. I had found it in a small heap on my parent's bedroom floor beside their bed when I had been trying to sneak into their bed after a nightmare that had caused me to wake up in tears. With a large thud, the large doors closed causing me to almost jump out of my skin before the man gently sat me down on the seat beside him.

"I'm David. What's your name, kiddo?" he asked while I played with the chain in my hands

"Natalie" I mumbled, not looking up to him

"Well Natalie, you've been incredibly brave tonight but I need you to be brave for just a little longer, can you do that for me?" David smiled causing me to nod my head quickly in an attempt to show how brave I could be.

"That's a girl" he smiled

"David?" I asked quietly

"What, kiddo?" he replied as the car began to move along the street

"Can we put the sirens on?" I grinned

Later that night after spending quite some time in David's office drawing in a notebook, I was reunited with my best friend, Charlie the bear, before I was told that my parents were going on a trip and I wouldn't see them for a while. Being only five, I believed them. I believed that they would come back for me after their holiday and things would go back to normal. Things never did.

Looking back now, I realise how naive I was as a child with my only worry being about hearing the sirens blaring as we drove away from the flashes. It was only years later as I grew less naive to the world and I put the pieces together, I figured out about the brutal murder that had happened only through the wall from me.

Twenty years after that night, I found myself struggling under the weight of the box in my hands as I tried to climb the stairs to my apartment. I was definitely questioning why I chose an apartment on the sixth floor of a building with an elevator that didn't work.

"Dean, you better not be sitting down" I grumbled as I burst through the door, almost dropping the box in the process

"Remind me how you're an FBI agent when you can barely make it up a few flights of stairs with a box of dvds?" he chuckled, taking the box from my hands

"I'd like to just point out that those are not dvds" I replied, holding up two videos in my hands

"Why do you even keep these? You don't even have a video player" he exclaimed, grabbing the videos from my hands with a chuckle

"Those are classics, that's why. Now put them down before you break them, butter fingers" I replied as I attempted to grab them from his hands while he held them above his head

"Those are classics" he imitated "Beauty and the Beast, really?"

"Shut up and come help me with the rest of the boxes" I grumbled, making my way towards the door "DEAN"

"I'm coming, calm it" he exclaimed, running out the apartment behind me

"Race you" he smirked, beginning to run down the stairs

"Cheat" I yelled after him as I quickly followed him

"Remind me why Alice thought it would be a good idea for you to help me move out?" I muttered as he climbed up into the truck

"These guns" he grinned as he turned to face me while he stretched his arms out in an attempt to show his muscles

"This is the only gun around here" I grinned, pointing to the gun at my side

"That joke is getting old" he groaned, handing me a box "And it wasn't funny in the first place"

"It was and it still is" I replied, sticking my tongue out at him as he passed me

"Mature. Real mature" he sighed

"Says the person who still likes to finger paint" I laughed before the door closed with a thud

"Dean, open the door" I exclaimed as I pushed against the door

"Sorry, sis. Why don't you use your gun?" he called back with a chuckle

"DEAN" I yelled "This isn't funny"

"You're right. It's not funny, it's hilarious" he laughed as I could hear his feet climbing the stairs

"I am going to kill him" I muttered to myself as I dropped the box onto the ground so I could look for my keys

Thinking back, I could remember chucking them onto the sofa before heading back down to truck. Just great. If I could have gotten my hands on him at that moment, I would have given him a good slap over the head for being his stupid self. Thirty years old and he still acted like a four year old. With a groan, I kicked my foot against the door instantly regretting it when the paint chipped.

"Erm excuse me. Are you alright?"

I spun round to find a guy about my age with quite the awkward expression on his face as he held some files tightly in his arms and keys in his hand. He was cute. My eyes instantly fell on the FBI symbol on the back of them which didn't go unnoticed by the guy as he let out a small cough.

"I'm locked out because of my idiot of a brother because he thinks he's funny and I've left my keys in my apartment. Please tell me those keys are for that door" I exclaimed, a grin beginning to form on my face

"They are but that door is broken" he told me causing the grin to drop from my face

"You just have to give it a rough push" he added, pushing the door open

"You're a life saver" I sighed, leaning down to pick up the box

"I want you to tell me exactly why you have a gun" he exclaimed in a voice much different from what he had spoke to me in only moment before

Looking up, I found myself with a gun pointed straight at me. That's a kind way of welcome new neighbors. Slowly I reached into the pocket of my cardigan, I pulled my credentials out to stop him from shooting me.

"Agent Natalie Copper" I introduced myself


End file.
